Benchmark indices continued trading with modest gains in afternoon trade. PSU stocks were in demand. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 238.58 points or 0.52% at 46,198.46. The Nifty 50 index surged 65.65 points or 0.49% at 13,543.95.
The Sensex hit a record high of 46,309.63 while the Nifty 50 scaled a fresh record high of 13,579.35 in morning trade.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.37%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.83%.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,909 shares rose and 900 shares fell. A total of 152 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 29 stocks advanced while 21 stocks declined.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 6,95,98,462 with 15,81,902 deaths. India reported 3,63,749 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,42,186 deaths while 92,90,834 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
F&O Segment:
The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) on Thursday announced that it has received Sebi's approval to launch derivatives on the Nifty Financial Services Index. NSE will launch the instrument from 11 January 2021. The contract size will be 40 with a strike price interval of 100. The expiry will be in line with Nifty and Bank Nifty F&O contracts.
Gainers & Losers:
GAIL (India) (up 5.08%), NTPC (up 3.96%) and Coal India (up 3.67%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
Divis' Laboratories (down 1.76%), Eicher Motors (down 0.99%), Asian Paints (down 0.77%), SBI Life Insurance Company (down 0.67%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.49%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Stocks in Spotlight:
ONGC surged 6.82% after a global brokerage firm reportedly upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' and raised its price target to Rs 115 from Rs 84 earlier.
On Thursday, Brent Crude prices crossed $50 per barrel for the first time since March 2020. The February 2020 settlement contract gained $1.39 or 2.84% to settle at $50.25 in yesterday's trading session. The contract was currently up 35 cents at $50.60 a barrel.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) rose 2.97% after the oil PSU said crude oil throughput at its refineries rose to 100% in November, with demand for petroleum products now close to pre-Covid levels. In October 2020 this figure was 88%, and last year for the same period it was 99%, the company said in a statement on Thursday (10 December 2020).
Gayatri Projects hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 36.20 after the company said it received three letter of awards (LoAs) aggregating to Rs 1,332 crore for drinking water schemes in Uttar Pradesh. Gayatri Projects has received LoAs for pipe drinking water schemes from Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department in Uttar Pradesh. The project will be executed in joint venture where the company's share is 97.5%. "All the above LOAs pertain to water division, Gayatri Projects said.
Canara Bank rose 1.92% after it said that the capital planning process committee of the board had approved the closure of the qualified institutions placement (QIP) issue on 10 December 2020. The sub-committee of the board approved the issue of 19,32,36,714 equity shares at a price of Rs 103.50 per share, aggregating to Rs 2000 crore, to the eligible qualified institutional buyers in the QIP. The approved issue price is the same as floor price. The QIP issue was open between 7th and 10th of December 2020.
Alembic Pharmaceuticals advanced 2.80% after the company announced that it received approval from the US drug regulator for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) Asenapine Sublingual Tablets. The approved ANDA is therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD), Saphris Sublingual Tablets, 5 mg and 10 mg, of Allergan Sales, LLC (Allergan). Asenapine is an atypical antipsychotic indicated for bipolar I disorder as adjunctive treatment to lithium or valproate in adults. Alembic had previously received tentative approval for this ANDA.
Global Markets:
European shares declined at opening bell on Friday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said that there was now a "strong possibility" of the U.K. departing the EU orbit without a free trade agreement at the end of the month, with a deadline to extend talks falling on Sunday and the two sides remaining at odds on key issues.
With the U.K. already beginning to deploy the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, advisors to the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) reportedly endorsed the shot for emergency use stateside, where cases and deaths have continued to spiral.
Asian stocks continued trading on a mixed note on Friday as investors kept an eye on negotiations over additional fiscal stimulus in the U.S.
In US, stocks closed little changed on Thursday as lawmakers struggled to push through new fiscal stimulus before year-end. Sentiment was also dampened by the release of weaker-than-expected jobless claims data.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly said negotiations over a new COVID-19 relief package were making "a lot of progress," although lawmakers in both parties said action could take longer than originally hoped as sticking points remained and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's staff were skeptical compromises could be made.
The House of Representatives passed a government funding extension Wednesday that would keep the federal government running through December 18 and buy time for further negotiations for a bigger relief bill.
Initial weekly jobless claims jumped to 853,000 last week. That marks the highest number of initial claims being filed since September and the first time since October that they topped 800.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
